1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to climate control systems, and more specifically to providing a user with an estimated financial cost or savings resulting from his changing a setting of the climate control system.
2. Background Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a residential home 10 which is equipped with a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) climate control system. The home is a building 12 which includes five rooms A-E. Each “room” may include one actual room, or it may include one or more rooms whose air is conditioned together as a zone.
The climate control system includes an air conditioner, furnace, or other such conditioning apparatus which provides conditioned, forced air into a primary trunk duct 14. The conditioned air is provided into the rooms via secondary ducts 16 which extend from the primary trunk duct to respective vents 18 in the various rooms. In most instances, the conditioned air returns from the room by passing out the room's door 20, but in some instances there may be return air ducts (not shown) in some or all of the rooms. The air returning from the various rooms mixes to some extent in the hallways 22 connecting the rooms and the common areas, and eventually returns into a return air vent 24 which feeds into the return air plenum of the furnace.
Operation of the air conditioner or furnace is managed by a controller. In one embodiment of the system described in the co-pending parent application, each room is equipped with a wireless thermometer and the controller is equipped with a wireless link which interfaces with the wireless thermometers to receive data from them; there may also be a wireless thermometer outside the house, which reports the outside air temperature to the climate control system.
In one embodiment, the conditioned air vent in each room is equipped with a controllable damper 26 which can be opened and closed to permit or prevent air from passing from the duct into the room. In one such embodiment described by the co-pending parent application, the dampers are inflatable bladders which are coupled to a valve pump system by pneumatic tubes 28 disposed within the ducts; the bladders are individually inflated and deflated by the valve pump system, whose operation is managed by the controller.
The controller is equipped with a display interface via which the user interacts with the system. The display interface includes a visual display which presents information to the user, and an input apparatus which accepts commands from the user. The particular details of the display controller are not especially pertinent to the invention; any suitable input and output means will suffice. In one embodiment, the display interface comprises a liquid crystal touch panel display which functions both as the output device and the input device.
The user provides inputs and commands via the display interface, to control various aspects of the operation of the HVAC system. For example, the user may switch the system from a standby or off mode to an on mode. Or, the user may adjust the thermostat setting for the house or for a particular room. Or, the user may alter the conditioning schedule for the house or for a particular room.
In a conventional HVAC system, the user makes such changes without any feedback or calculation of the financial cost or savings resulting from the changes, beyond a general and somewhat vague sense that the warmer the house is kept in the winter and the cooler it is kept in the summer, the higher the bill will be. The user is likely to make very different tradeoffs and decisions in setting his HVAC system, in the absence of any quantization of the resulting cost or savings, than he would make if he had an immediate and reasonably accurate estimate of the cost or savings.
What is desirable, then, is an improved HVAC controller and method of operation of the same, providing the user with reasonably accurate estimates of the financial impact of changes made to the HVAC system settings.
Table 1 contains “high temperature above” probability data for Portland, Oreg. as provided in 5° increments by the National Weather Service.
Table 2 contains “low temperature above” probability data for Portland, Oreg. as provided in 5° increments by the National Weather Service.
Table 3 contains “low temperature below” probability data derived from Table 2 and range extended.
Table 4 contains average monthly high and low temperature data for Portland, Oreg. as provided by the National weather Service.
Table 5 contains average monthly temperature spread data for Portland, Oreg. derived from the data of Table 4.
Table 6 contains data indicating the daily local climate pattern during the cooling season for Portland, Oreg.
Table 7 contains data indicating the daily local climate pattern during the heating season for Portland, Oreg.
Table 8 contains high temperature probability data for Portland, Oreg. in 1° increments interpolated from the data of Table 1.
Table 9 contains low temperature probability data for Portland, Oreg. in 1° increments interpolated from the data of Table 3.
Table 10 contains data indicating, for each month, the likely number of days whose high temperature will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 8.
Table 11 contains data indicating, for each month, the likely number of days whose low temperature will be at or below each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 9.
Table 12 contains data indicating, for each month, the likely number of days whose high temperature will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Tables 10 and 5.
Table 13 contains data indicating, for each month, the likely number of days whose high temperature will be at or below each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Tables 11 and5.
Table 14 contains data indicating, for the year, the likely number of days on which the hottest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 10.
Table 15 contains data indicating, for the year, the likely number of days on which the coolest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 12.
Table 16 contains data indicating, for the year, the likely number of days on which the hottest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 13.
Table 17 contains data indicating, for the year, the likely number of days on which the coldest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 11.
Table 18 contains data indicating, for the year, the number of degree-hours that the hottest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 14.
Table 19 contains data indicating, for the year, the number of degree-hours that the coolest hour of the day will be at or above each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 15.
Table 20 contains data indicating, for the year, the number of degree-hours that the warmest hour of the day will be at or below each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 16.
Table 21 contains data indicating, for the year, the number of degree-hours that the coldest hour of the day will be at or below each temperature in the range, derived from the data of Table 17.